The Spectre is a local monthly newspaper for activists, campaigners and radicals in and around Colchester. We’re an alternative to the mainstream media – their views are not ours and only reflect the views of their rich and privileged owners anyway. We’re independent – we don’t have commercial backers or ties to political parties, so we don’t care what they want us to say. We’re radical – we want to question all established authority and we support emancipatory struggles.
We think organisation should be horizontal – we don’t want or need leaders and when everyone has an equal say, we can really achieve things together! That’s why we organise ourselves in a non-hierarchical way – anyone involved in the paper can have chance to shape it. We hold meetings twice a month so our readers can come along and get stuck in to.
We want to draw links between struggles for justice, freedom and a better world both globally and locally – because radical social change starts at home! We want to unite local groups and provide a space for them to tell people what they’re up to – each month we publish a list of radical events and meetings happening in and around Colchester. If you want to get involved, write a piece for us or ask us to promote your event, contact us at TheSpectre@hush.com
We also think that information should be free and that bringing people together is it’s own reward. That’s why we’re not a profit making paper – we pay for printing ourselves and only ever ask for a donation towards the paper – anything we get will go straight back into keeping it going. There’s no bonuses being paid to our editors, trust us!